First off I am so
excited!! My Michael
Miller Groovy Guitar and Disco
Dot Fabric has arrived. This is my first real "designer fabric" that I
get to work with. I bought it off a site called Yardseller.
I have to say the site is pretty cool and you can get some amazing deals on
there for fabric and yarn.
The day I bought the
fabric I knew right away what I wanted to do with it. I have been dying to make
a great little beach bag for myself. I just loved this fabric and thought it
would be perfect for what I wanted to do with it.
After it arrived I just
sat there sort of intimidated by it. I only had a half yard of each so I knew I
didn't have much room at all for error. Knowing myself... this was going to be a
challenge since I still have not mastered the art of being able to measure and
cut everything to be exact just yet. However as I sat there and pondered
exactly how I wanted it to look it dawned on me that I had a few yards of that
clear heavy plastic in my stash that I got on clearance from our local Wal-mart. Then just like that I was picturing an
amazing bag in my head.
Now silly inexperienced
me didn't realize that this plastic is not the easiest to work with. However
before I even was able to go down that road I desperately needed to get all the
tiny wrinkles out of this plastic. I called a couple people that I knew that
sewed as a hobby and none of them had ever worked with this material and told
me there was not much I could do other than to lay it flat and maybe lay some
books on it over night to flatten it out. Well I knew there had to be a better
way so I got out the iron. Yes I said the iron.
I have to be honest I really didn't learn to use an iron until I
started sewing.
So anyway I turned
the iron on 4 which on ours is a low to medium heat. I laid my plastic on top
of my layer of fabric then laid 2 more fat quarters folded in half over that. (So
I guess you could say I laid down 4 layers of fabric over the plastic.) I
pressed firmly but didn't sit over one spot for very long.
During the Ironing process I learned the best this work properly
is to get every inch, then flip it over and do it again on the other side, then
flip it over and do it on the other side one more time. After that I laid it on
my cutting mat and used my fingers to press it flat and get all the bubbles
out. When you do this you will feel that it is still warm to the touch. Stretch
it out and lay it as flat as possible. Let it sit for about 5-10 min and let it
cool off. You will notice it gains it firmness back very nicely and it’s
FLAT!!!!
I was so happy
this worked and didn't ruin the iron. My Husband uses the iron a lot to iron
his chef jackets and stuff so I was a little worried that I was going to ruin
it during my little experiment.
Here is the before and after of the plastic from the ironing.
Some of
you might say why don't you just look it up on the Internet. Well I am one of
those people that like to do things on my own and experiment with everything.
Then if all else fails then I hit the computer and start looking of tips and
tricks.
Now I was in my groove.
That was until I went to go sew my plastic to my fabric. I dropped my foot,
lengthened my stitch a bit so I wouldn't perforate the plastic, started sewing,
and it just sat there. I couldn't get it to move. I panicked for a bit. I
knew I didn't have enough expertise to understand why when I sew with fabric it
just glides through like butter and this I couldn't get to move at all. I
dropped my teeth and still nothing. So I sat there and I must have had a look
of defeat because my Husband walked over asking what the problem was.
As I am explaining to
him what is going on he is looking over all my steps to make sure I wasn't
missing something. (For those that don't know my Husband was the one that
taught me how to sew and I will be forever grateful that he did.) We sat there
for couple minutes trying to think of something that would work, when out of
know where he says use tissue paper. I know some of you might be going DUH! At
the time I honestly didn't know whether it would work or not but I am always
willing to try new things.
So we pulled out some tissue paper, some scrap material
similar to what I was working with, and a scrap piece of my plastic. I lined
everything up how I would be for my main project. Then I wrapped the tissue
paper around the front and back of where I would be placing my stitches, lined
it up, dropped my foot and started sewing. Just like that it went through the
machine like butter. I was just thrilled. I stood up gave my husband a big hug,
thanked him, and got back to work. After you are done sewing you can then just tear
off the paper and it cleans up really nice.
Now that I know how to use this material I think you will start
seeing it in more of my projects. I think you can do a lot with it. I wanted to
give this tutorial for those that have never worked with it because I think
this is an easy and great way to get clean and precise lines with this hard to
work with material.
I will show you the bag
as soon as I am finished along with the rest of the tutorial. I am hoping to
get it done by Friday for you. Also on Friday I will be showing the final
photos of the Pink Pennant Banner. I am getting the photos back from the
photographer tomorrow and I am more than thrilled to see how it turned out for
her photo shoot. I am still undecided whether or not I am going to put the
banner up for sale in my shop or not. I am so proud of it; part of me wants to
keep it.
Also just a reminder to
those who like to crochet. I have a Crochet-A-Long that started this week and there is still plenty
of time to get involved. Check it out it will be a lot of fun and will give you
a chance to meet new yarn lovers. The pattern is a Tetris Themed pattern that was designed by me. Sign-up
is on the Smalltown Dreamz Facebook Fan Page.
Click on the Events Section.
As always I love to hear
from my readers. Have you ever worked with this type of plastic? What have been
your experiences?
Happy Sewing
